The year was 1978. Roger Needham was a 15 year student at Everett High School in Lansing Michigan. He was known for being the “weirdo”, the loner, and the student who wore the same jeans, olive drab jacket, wire-rimmed glasses, and Nazi pin to school every day.  There were rumors about Needham, that he talked about atomic weapons, burning down houses, and throwing bombs in school. It was 2 p.m. when Needham opened fired in his school hallway; he wounded one student and killed Bill Draher, another student. At the root of this issue is the underlying that reality that Needham was also a victim before this horrific day, a victim of bullying, and when it became too much to handle, he decided to take his tormentor’s life.

Now jump nine years later to the year 1987. 12 year old student, Nathan Faris, attended Dekalb High School, in Dekalb, Missouri.  He was teased for being overweight and for being a “walking dictionary.” It was in his seventh grade history class that he took out a gun from his gym bag and aimed it at a classmate’s head.   The classmate wrestled Faris for the gun, resulting in the bullet hitting the floor. Another classmate Timothy Perrin tried to grab the gun, but he was shot twice and died. Faris took his own life after killing Perrin.  Seventh grader, Billy Couch said in an interview with the Associated Press at that time, “Everybody always teased him. He was overweight and they called him chubby.”

Six years later, Jason Smith (16 years old) pulled out a gun in his first-period biology class and killed classmate, Michael Swann, in nearby Upper Perkiomen High School. Smith asked, “You want to make fun of me?” Then he shot Swann in the face. He proceeded to say, “Make fun of me again.”  Smith shot him again in the face.  Smith couldn’t take the physical abuse or the threats anymore.

The following year in 1994, 10 year-old Jason Osmanson took out a gun on his school’s playground at Margaret Leary Elementary School. He shot the pistol three times, hitting Jeremy Bullock, a student who was standing next to the intended target.  Bullock died a day later after being shot in the head.  Osmanson was teased because his parents had aids.

In January 2013, a high school student open fired at his Taft California High School. The suspect’s name was not released because he is a minor, but the motive behind the shooting was bullying.

Many people will argue that we need stricter gun laws and better safety measures in school. Others will say violent video games or mental illness contributes to school violence. All these things may be true, but it also comes down to how we treat people. Statistics will be spun to say that all these recent mass school shootings are not because of bullying. But if there is no sign of mental illness from the shooter, then why would someone want to kill another human being? No one will murder someone just to do it. People don’t want to admit that they are bullied. Victims of bullying are looked at as weak in some people’s eyes. Sometimes the victims are scared to tell someone that they are being bullied. Violence that results from bullying can always be prevented. If everyone, including adults, would act nicer to others, and show empathy for another person there would be a lot less violence in the world. Sometimes we don’t always need bullying prevention programs in schools, just people that will open their eyes and ears and listen to another person. School violence is a hot topic in the media nowadays, but it doesn’t have to be if we can turn our attention, daily, to that which often causes it in the first place.